


And Rejoice

by Katherine



Category: Silent Running (1972)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 02:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8353531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katherine/pseuds/Katherine
Summary: Drone 2 survives.





	

The two drones had fixed the human's leg, their tools touching his blood. The human had reconnected tiny wires within the drones and had given them added programming. They had been part of one another, the drones and the human, all three of them.

The human had given him a new designation, programmed him to answer to it, but his identity was still Drone 2. Drone 2 accepted the human's touch, the flat hand on his slatted front. Drone 2 did not have enough context. Neither his original programming nor any that had been added included what to expect from this. Yet the human was staring at the metal tubes he had twisted to some different state, so Done 2 waited.

Thrown by the force of the blast, camera image lost in the blaze of explosion, the drone spun on an uncontrolled trajectory. His sharp-angled feet kicked futilely against the shockwaves. He was alone.

 

Finally Drone 1 fetched up against the dome that held Forest. Having no hands to cling with, he kept his front surface to the cold of the dome, feet scrabbling for purchase. He scratched against the glass with his pincer, trying the faint chance that the vibration would carry. He hoped, most of all, that Drone 1 would track his sight along this portion of the dome.

In unmeasured time, Drone 1 did. Then the communication through the wall, the fluttering of hanging door-pieces and the minute movements the drones' cameras could mostly easily perceive, each from the other.

 

They mingled their plans, carried them out, and at last Drone 2 was in Forest. Together he and Drone 1 maintained the lights, watered after the plants, and checked the soil. Once each round of these tasks were finished, they danced together.


End file.
